Paul Henson, father of toddler, Caiden, doesn’t believe in subscribing to socialized gender norms. When asked what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween, his little boy enthusiastically exclaimed, “Elsa!”, so Henson happily went out and bought his kid an ice queen costume at a local clothing store in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Caiden was so excited about getting to be the main character from Disney’s Frozen for Halloween that he couldn’t wait to try on the costume in the store’s dressing room. He spun and twirled for his father, and posed with his best angry, about-to-shoot-ice-crystals face for an adorable picture.
He had such a great time watching his son’s overjoyed reaction to the outfit, that Henson posted the pic on his Facebook page, writing, “Anyone that knows us, knows we generally let Caiden make his own choices, to an extent. Well he has decided on a Halloween costume. He wants to be Elsa…Game on. Keep your masculine bullshit and slutty kids costumes, Halloween is about children pretending to be their favorite characters. Just so happens, this week his is a princess.”
Since he posted it, the photo has already gotten nearly 500 likes from Henson’s friends and over 27,000 shares by friends and strangers alike, who want to stand behind Henson as he says, “Let it go” to gender stereotypes and hello to gender fluidity.
The story has already been picked up by Good Day Philadelphia, and news of this wonderful father and his acceptance of his son’s costume preferences has already spread all over the world. Just this morning, a friend posted on Henson’s Facebook page that she had seen an article about Henson and his son being celebrated in Argentina.
At his son’s request, Henson plans on buying himself an adult-sized Anna costume, and parading the streets as Elsa’s good-hearted sister, right alongside his son on Halloween. As far as he’s concerned, his little boy can be whatever he wants, including (not not limited to) a princess! Wear it proud, Caiden!
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